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EDUCATION: Statistics Starter Kit

Teachers seeking demonstrations or online experiments for a college probability or statistics class should check out this collection of Java applets designed by statistician Ivo Dinov of the University of California, Los Angeles. One set of simulations lets students explore important distributions such as the chi-square, Poisson, and binomial, which describes coin flipping and other events that have two possible outcomes. Students can see how modifying parameters affects the mean, median, variance, and other measures.

Another section runs more than 50 probability-related experiments. For instance, students can take a crack at the best guessing strategy for the Monty Hall problem, named for the host of the game show Let's Make a Deal. Contestants on the show had to guess which of three doors concealed a fabulous prize and avoid the doors that hid a goat. You'll also find online calculators, graphing and data analysis tools, a curve-fitting feature, and other applets.